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Hispanic Heritage Leadership Award

2016 Adult Leadership Award Winner
Ruby Reyna

The Colorado Rockies are proud to announce the winner of the 2016 Adult Leadership Award, Ruby Reyna. Ruby was honored with the other finalists in a ceremony on September 17 at Coors Field, and will receive season tickets to the 2017 season. Congratulations, Ruby!

Ruby Reyna2016 Adult Leadership Award Winner

Ruby's personal story is a difficult one: She was abused, tortured and blinded in one eye as a child; she witnessed her mother being abused by her father, and her mother eventually died when Ruby was 21; Ruby herself experienced abuse at the hands of her husband after the birth of her third child. Through her own perseverance and to protect her children from the same fate, she was able to escape this situation and break the cycle of domestic violence in her own life, raising her three children as a single mother. She has been volunteering and working in shelters since she was 21 and she encouraged her kids to work in shelters to help other victims of abuse.

Out of her own personal struggles, Ruby found a calling in helping others escape the same abuse she suffered. Her current job is supervisor of a shelter in Jefferson County. She is proud to hold that role, however she continues to serve in the role of victim advocate (which isn't in her responsibilities) and works tirelessly to help anyone in need, always with an eye for recognizing those who are being victimized.

In addition to her many hours supervising the shelter, Ruby teaches domestic abuse awareness in the shelter and at her church. At church, she teaches parishioners the signs to look for and how to help those who might need help themselves but are too afraid to ask. Ruby is highly trained in counseling abuse victims and getting them the legal guidance they need, but with her personal experiences, she readily takes on the most challenging cases and spends extra time to help them. Having survived the impact that abuse can have on one's self esteem, Ruby is uniquely equipped with the patience and compassionand strengthneeded for a victim to get out, get their children out and break the cycle of being a victim. She also recognizes that many abuse victims are immigrants or homeless, so she always has blankets in her car to hand out to homeless families on the street in the winter, and she always has brochures about shelter services on hand for anyone or any place that can use it or will share it.

Another way in which Ruby is not just a supervisor at the shelter is the special pride she takes in providing a safe and comfortable place the victims of domestic violence can call home. She spends personal time and energy decorating and filling the shelter with amenities, artistic murals and creative outlets to create that comfort level for families that have been uprooted from their homes, usually bringing nothing with them but the clothes they have on. Early on, Ruby found art to be a release in her own life and she loves teaching art classes to help victims sort out their feelings or just as an escape. Ruby provides her own artwork to decorate the shelter and she donates works to local charitable events. Ruby not only provides care to victims at the shelter, she actively seeks out ways to help others survive abuse everywhere she goes in her everyday life. She wants everyone to experience kindness and she wants victims to achieve the personal fulfillment she has.